'Wonderful and strange': A festival celebrating David Lynch is coming to London

David Lynch fans, we’ve got good news for you - and it’s not just about that gum you like. A two-day festival celebrating the life and career of the beloved American filmmaker is coming to London this month. 

Hosted at the Genesis Cinema in Whitechapel, ‘A Gathering of the Angels’ will feature immersive performances, special screenings, cosplay, and in-person talks with some of Lynch's longterm collaborators, including producer Sabrina Sutherland, Twin Peaks actor Michael Horse, and musician Chrystabell. 

This year’s event marks the first dedicated to Lynch’s wider career, having previously run from 2010-2019 as the Twin Peaks UK Festival, a popular get-together for devotees of the seminal, surrealist TV series and movie. 

After finding success with his experimental cult classic Eraserhead in 1977, David Lynch forged a visionary career that captured the thinly veiled nightmares festering beneath suburban Americana. FromThe Elephant Man to Wild at Heart to Mulholland Drive, few filmmakers have managed to horrify and fascinate, confound and influence with such singular imagination.

Since his death in January, a plethora of tributary exhibitions and retrospective screenings have been organised across the globe - some of which even included free cigarettes (a nod to Lynch’s notorious love of smoking). These, along with ‘A Gathering of the Angels’, not only highlight the cultural impact of his works, but the deeply personal ways in which audiences have connected to them. 

For Sabrina S. Sutherland, who produced Twin Peaks: The Return and Inland Empire, this connection is sparked by the mystery that’s core to Lynch’s creations, leaving their meaning open for endless interpretation and discussion. 

“It's an experience to see his films. Not just the narrative of them, but the visual and auditory impressions that you get are so very deep,” she told Euronews Culture. “It's sometimes seemingly dark, but I always see a silver lining and some sort of humanity in his work.” 

At a time when streaming and social media dominate viewing habits, Twin Peaks in particular has grown in popularity among younger audiences looking to be challenged - and forcibly disconnected. 

“You can't multitask and watch Twin Peaks,” said Michael Horse, who played Deputy Hawk throughout the series. “You have to put your phone down and you have to get into David's world. And that's kind of a new process for a lot of younger people.”

When the show first aired in 1990, it marked a turning point for TV that left an imprint on nearly every great show to come. Centred around the murder of a teenage girl named Laura Palmer, it merged mystery and melodramatics with cinematic avant-garde, proving the possibilities for exploring unconventional storytelling on the small screen. 

“We changed the way that people process TV,” said Horse, who reprised his role in 2017 for The Return. “We knew we were doing something special the first time, but [now] everything's got Twin Peaks's DNA all over it.”

Among the highlights at 'A Gathering of the Angels' is the first UK screening of I Know Catherine, the Log Lady, a documentary about the life of Twin Peaks actress Catherine Coulson. There's also an ambient Mulholland Drive Dreamscape installation, a Lynchian cabaret, and - presumably - plenty of cherry pie and “damn fine” coffee. 

Sutherland, however, is most looking forward to chatting with the attendees.

“I love hearing the different theories that people have and the experiences they've had, and how things have changed their lives,” she said. “David just meant so much to me, he still means so much to me. It's so wonderful to hear how he has also been a change for other people and has made them aware of other things”. 

Horse feels similarly affectionate towards Lynch’s fans, noting their passion for the art above anything else. "They're totally involved in it, and it actually opens up a lot of other thought processes to us about what we did," he shared with Euronews Culture. "And Twin Peaks still grows. Even though it's not made anymore, it still grows generation after generation, and there's always somebody that sees something that somebody else didn't see".

In a parting exchange, Horse recounts a tale from when he was in London in the '70s and bonded with a stray fox. “He slept in my hotel rooms and rode on my motorcycle, and he was the sweetest little creature,” he explained. “He just loved to go for rides, that little fox.”

Such swift shifts between curious insights and endearing absurdity are perhaps the greatest pleasure of being around David Lynch fans and collaborators. Theirs is a universe in which the lines between reality and dreamworlds blur; where characters turn into drawer knobs, rabbits become anthropomorphic - and actors ride on motorcycles with foxes.

And so, whatever experiences 'A Gathering of the Angels' holds in store, we have a definite feeling it will be "both wonderful and strange.”

'A Gathering of the Angels' takes place at the Genesis Cinema in London, UK on 27-28 September 2025.